Change Of Scenery
by velja
Summary: Sequel to The Scent Of Trust. Damon is convinced that he needs a change of scenery to get over Katherine. Or is he secretly trying to run from this new thing with Elena? And what if Elena doesn't want him to run? NOW COMPLETE.
1. Words Of Meaning

**Change of Scenery (Sequel to The Scent Of Trust)**

by velja

**Genre:** Romance, Humor

**Pairing: **Damon/Elena

**Rating:** PG-13

**Disclaimer:** I forgot to put it up in the previous story, so here it is: I don't own the books (haven't even read them) nor the TV series or any of the characters. I play with them without making money. I'm just having fun and hope you are, too.

**Spoilers:** Everything you've seen on TV and then some. And you should have read my story "The Scent Of Trust" because this is a sequel and you won't understand what's going on here unless you've read that one first.

**Summary:** Damon is convinced that a change of scenery is just what he needs to get over Katherine. Or is it the new-found trust from Elena that he's really trying to run from? And what if Elena doesn't want Damon to run?

_**Author's note:**__ I'm stunned by the number of reviews I got on the previous story (in just one night), I never would have thought I'd reach so many people with it. Thank you all for your kind words, you're amazing. Now here's the sequel most of you have been asking for. I hope you like it just as much._

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**Chapter One: Words Of Meaning  
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Elena slowly woke up from the sound of broken glass crunching under someone's feet. Still in a haze she noticed that she lay curled up on a leather surface with her nose nearly buried in a soft and musty-smelling cushion. She turned her face to the left and was at once hit by bright rays of sunlight. They tickled her nose and burned in her eyes. Elena squinted quickly and hoisted her body up on one elbow.

"Good morning!"

The cheery greeting from somewhere behind prompted Elena to turn her head and open her eyes to the sight of Damon, crouched down in front of the big fireplace, giving her an expression somewhere between a genuine smile and his usual smirk.

"Ugh, morning," Elena replied slowly. She blinked at the shards of broken glass Damon was picking up from the ground but her eyes traveled back to his face when he spoke again.

"Did you sleep well? Not too cold, were you?"

His silvery-blue eyes glided over her body and instinctively Elena pulled the soft blanket high up to her neck. "Ugh, no. I…"

Wait… a blanket? Where had that come from? She couldn't remember ever getting a blanket. She didn't even remember falling asleep on the couch. All she remembered about last night was pulling Damon into her arms and then holding him while he…

Elena inhaled sharply. He'd allowed himself to fall apart in her arms, to trust her with his pain…

So, had Damon covered her with a blanket after she'd fallen asleep? And what about him, where had he slept?

Elena's eyes shot back to Damon and she noticed him watching her closely, still crouched down, with his head cocked to the side.

Then, as if he'd read her thoughts, Damon smirked: "Relax, Elena. I took the old comfy-chair." He stood up and walked over to the far side of the room to dispose of the shards of broken glass. Elena watched him silently.

"So your virtue is still intact, at least as far as I'm concerned," Damon shrugged carelessly on his way back to her and winked. "I can't be sure about Stefan's actions though…" he paused and plopped down onto the couch Elena was still sprawled on. She quickly withdrew her legs and sat up.

Damon went on with a dirty smirk: "But judging from the very interesting noises I've heard coming from his room lately…"

"Damon!" Elena shrieked and elbowed him in offence. He simply shrugged and his eyebrow climbed up as if he dared her to prove him wrong.

Elena let out a sigh and lifted her hands to tame her sleep-tousled hair. Damon, she noticed offhandedly, looked quite his impeccable and dead-sexy usual self. Not one of his boyishly-styled-through-to-look-like-he'd-just-stumbled-out-of-bed-hair wasn't in place. And that damn cocky smirk…

"I'm glad to see you've gone back to your usual overconfident and very annoying self," Elena stated with a raised eyebrow of herself. "That's…" she sent him a small smile, "… good. Which doesn't mean that I ever liked your huge ego, mind you!"

"Keep trying to convince yourself of that, Elena," Damon grinned self-assuredly, "but we both know the truth." He leaned closer to her face and whispered into Elena's ear: "You like my huge… ego. You like… me."

"Keep trying to convince yourself of that, Damon," Elena whispered his words right back to him, not the least bit flummoxed by his proximity. "But after last night we both know the truth. You're not the invincible bad-ass you want everybody to see. And… you like me back!"

Damon eased up on the closeness and Elena thought she saw a flicker of some emotion cross his face. But it was gone even quicker than it had appeared and once again replaced with his trademark smirk.

"A-ha!" Damon announced and pointed a finger at her. "So you **do** like me! I knew it!"

"I didn't…" Elena tried to protest but Damon cut her off again.

"You said, 'You like me **back**!', didn't you?" Damon quoted her complete with a ridiculously looking gesture of air-quotes. "Which requires the assumption that I'm right. After all, you have to like me first for your statement to make sense because how would I be able to like you back if you didn't like me first, hm? Ergo? You like me!"

Elena had some trouble following his casually-announced logic but she had even more trouble keeping a straight face through it all. God, he was so completely full of himself! But she had to secretly admit that she preferred him broadcasting this funny playful banter to the crushed and broken Damon she'd seen last night.

So eventually Elena let out a soft giggle and replied: "Maybe there's the tiniest smidgen of truth in your well-rehearsed speech."

"Sure there is," Damon shrugged and leaned back on the couch. "It's my speech after all."

"Yes," Elena nodded and leaned back as well. "And may I point out that you didn't contradict me in the slightest? Ergo…" she paused dramatically, "you like me back!"

Damon simply sent her a small grin. "I've told you before, Elena. You're not the worst company in the world."

"Right," Elena agreed with a nod.

Companionable silence stretched out between them until Elena suddenly bolted upright and exclaimed: "Oh shit, Damon! What time is it? I have to get going, I have to…"

The strong hand on her arm surprised Elena but Damon's words did even more. "Calm down, Elena. It's not even seven thirty."

"Really?" Elena stared at Damon's face and then her eyes darted across the room to the old Grandfather-Clock that stood there. He was right, it was only just past seven. Elena relaxed visibly.

"Oh, but still," she announced after a second, "I really should get going, I need to be seen at home before I go to school and…"

"School? But it's Saturday!" Damon's eyebrow rose up mockingly. "Don't tell me the righteous Elena Gilbert got herself a detention, huh?"

"No, I didn't!" Elena groused at once.

"So why would you go to school on a Saturday?"

"I…" Elena didn't want to admit that with everything going on she'd simply confused the days although she was sure Damon had already picked up on that. Still, she didn't want to give him the benefit of laughing at her and so she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"I was hoping to meet Mr. Salzmann alone, I mean… out of regular class."

Damon looked at her as if she'd just confessed having a sordid love-affair with the History teacher.

"What?" Elena asked and crossed her arms over her chest in a clear display of defensiveness. "I meant to talk to him, Damon!"

"Really?" Damon mirrored her position and then cocked his head to the side. "Then why did you have to make it sound so dirty, Elena?"

"I didn't… oh, shut up!" Elena swiftly stood up from the couch and looked around for her shoes. She couldn't remember taking them off last night and wondered briefly, while pulling them on in walking, if Damon had been the one to place them so neatly next to the couch. Somehow she'd never thought him to be the domestic type. But then again… letting her eyes quickly travel over the living room Elena noticed for the first time that the entire place looked well-groomed and impeccable. Far too neat for two young men (or vampires) living here on their own.

She'd always assumed men to be messy (she had the proof of that messing up Aunt Jenna's home every day, hadn't she?). So… who cleaned up this place? Was it Damon that spent his days dusting the overflowing bookshelves?

An image appeared instantly before her eyes: Damon, an apron slung around his lean body, swinging the vacuum-cleaner around and still making it look sexy somehow…

Elena laughed out loud but then she blinked in shock. Wait, sexy? She didn't just think of Damon in an apron as sexy, did she? No way!

He wasn't sexy, with or without the apron!

But then again, Elena had to admit that he'd looked quite good in it after all.

The other night, when he'd come to her place and had cooked dinner for her, Jenna and Jeremy… Aunt Jenna had instantly fallen for his 'ridiculously sexy look'.

And that dinner, it had been good! She'd been more than surprised when Damon had wiped up that delicious pasta sauce from scratch.

So, all in all, Elena had to admit that Damon seemed to be the domestic type after all. She never would have guessed. He truly seemed to be full of surprises.

Speaking of… Elena turned around to the couch and noticed with surprise that it was empty. Huh? Where had Damon gone?

"Damon?" she looked around the living room and came face to face with his smirking self.

"Damn, would you stop doing that already?" Elena had put her hand to her rapidly heaving chest. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Only nearly? I have to try harder next time," Damon smirked back and took one step away from her. "Although… I'm afraid that will have to wait till after I'm back. If I ever come back, that is."

Elena stared at his face, not sure what he'd just announced. "You, huh? What? What do you mean, if you come back?"

Damon's blue eyes gleamed in the sunlight. "That means, Elena, that you and Stefan finally got what you wanted. I'm leaving. You know, a change of scenery and all that."

"Leaving?" Elena could do nothing but repeat the one word that had brought her down instantly. "But, Damon, no! Why? Why do you wanna leave?"

"Why would I wanna stay?" Damon countered. "Here? In this town? After everything that happened? Elena, there's nothing worth staying for, is there?"

Elena felt like being slapped in the face and dowsed in a bucket of ice-water. How could he say that? Never mind that she knew he'd never given a damn about Mystic Falls, home town or not, and the fact that his brother lived here. Damon obviously didn't care for any of that. He'd only come here to free Katherine and now that he'd found out the truth…

But what about…

'Damn it, Damon! What about me? **I'm** here!' Elena thought and had to gulp forcefully.

Apparently she'd been mistaken. She'd thought that Damon had come to care for her, that he… he'd trusted her but…

It obviously didn't mean anything to him. She didn't mean anything to him!

"I see," Elena finally managed to squeeze out. Without another word she spun around on her heels and started marching off. She hadn't even reached the steps to the hall when Damon appeared out of nowhere to block her way. He leaned close to her upset face and looked deeply into her brown eyes.

"Elena," his voice was barely above a whisper.

"No, you're right, Damon!" Elena gulped and briefly looked to the ground. When she met his gaze again her face was firmly set and her voice sounded harsh. "There's nothing worth staying here for you. I get it. So… goodbye and, you know, good riddance!"

Elena pushed past him into the entrance hall, took hold of the doorknob and pulled with force.

"You don't really mean that, Elena!" Damon was in her face again, slamming the heavy wooden door shut with one hand while the other closed around her upper arm to stop her from bolting. Elena in her rush nearly slammed into his chest. She looked up into his serious face, no trace of a smirk now anywhere, and her eyes met his.

"You're right, I don't really mean it. But it doesn't matter because," she gulped before she went on. "Because apparently a lot of things were said and done here last night that didn't mean anything at all."

Damon took a shocked step backwards and away from the door. Elena used his surprise to push past him and out through the small opening. She ran towards her car and, fishing for the keys in her pocket, inhaled the crisp morning air. Convinced that Damon would come after her again Elena hurried to open the car door and move inside. Only when she'd slumped onto the driver's seat with the door closed behind her did she dare to look back to the house.

Damon stood on the edge of the front porch, one hand braced against a wooden pillar and the other dangling limp from his side. Elena couldn't see his face, it was completely hidden by the shadows the roof was casting.

But Elena knew that his eyes had to look lifeless and blank just like last night. She could see them staring at her without really seeing anything, staring through her, all the way home.

And it was an image that followed her even into her dreams that night.

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**TBC**

_Okay, I know that the ending is kind of sad and harsh and surely not what you've expected but I a__ssure you that this is only the first part of a much happier Damon/Elena romance-story that I will try to continue as soon as possible._


	2. Confessions

_I know this chapter is short and everything but I wanted to get this up now because I'm b__eyond amazed of the popularity of this fic. Thank you all so much for your reviews, I'll try getting the more personal answers to your reviews out tonight. But now enjoy this. _

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**Chapter Two: Confessions**

_'Dear Diary,_

_So much has happened since my last entry that I don't even know where to begin with. We opened the tomb, Katherine wasn't in there, it was all for nothing… Bonnie's Grams died last night, Stefan and I are… I don't really know what we are at the moment. We haven't talked much. And Damon, he's… we are… God, it's such a mess!_

_Everything's like a big, blurred mess in my head and the only thing that's standing out, the only thing that's crystal clear whenever I close my eyes is… his vacant, blank stare right through me._

_Blank and yet so full of meaning, with so much behind it, so much hidden and left unsaid. And I don't know if we'll ever be able to sort it out. It looks like I'll never get the chance to say what I wanna say because…_

_He's gone._

_Damon left town. Or at least that's what he said he'd do. And after that everything just went down. When he told me he was leaving the first thing I felt was… hurt. Hurt and shocked, and then it dawned on me that I truly didn't want him to leave and the realization shocked me even more. And so things were said and one thing led to another and I left in a hurry, upset because I expected him to stop me and he didn't. The disappointment I felt when I realized he didn't follow me was so big and unexpected that it confused me even more._

_The entire day I haven't been able to stop wondering why… why do I feel this way? Why would I want him to stay? Because, let's face it, whatever Damon does there's trouble and pain following in its wake. He's brought so much hurt and death to town… Coach Tanner, Vicky, Lexi… and that's just the ones he killed that I know by name. He murdered countless others and he tried to kill Bonnie, he used Caroline… he's done nothing but kill and maim and threaten and use people for whatever purpose he likes._

_He's a monster and I must be insane to still want him around. I can't want him around._

_But I do._

_And all because he let me see a side of him no one knew exists. A side I'm sure he didn't even know himself. But one moment of… humanity can't make up for a lifetime of causing pain and death, can it?_

_I know it can't and still there's a part of me that wants to rush to him and beg him to stay._

_And that's what scares me the most. What kind of person does it make me to still want him around after everything he's done? Doesn't it make me a monster, too?'_

Damon slowly let the diary glide back down to where he'd cautiously picked it up from beside Elena's pillow. His eyes traveled over her sleeping form on the bed and came to rest on her face. A sole sliver of moonlight bathed it, creeping from the open window over her bed to where he stood next to her, motionless and silent. Even in sleep, Damon noticed, Elena's brows were drawn and turned her beautiful face into a mask of troubled confusion.

And how could it not?

After what Damon had just read… after the secret knowledge he'd just stolen from the pages of the book that held her every secret, her very soul…

How could he blame her for finding peace not even in sleep?

He couldn't. There was only person to blame for the marred confusion showing on Elena's face now. One person alone had managed to steal away the innocence of this strong and beautiful girl and leave her a confused and sad mess that was doubting herself.

He alone was to blame for that.

And for the first time in 145 years Damon felt something like remorse stir up inside his dark and twisted soul. Feelings he'd thought long dead and incapable of having slowly clawed their way up to the front, up to a place he'd long since thought withered and dried-up: his conscience.

He didn't regret killing all those people or the way he'd threatened and used them to do his bidding. They didn't matter to him, never had, and he knew they never would. But what mattered was the pain his actions had caused Elena. The pain and sorrow he saw edged onto her face and that he'd brought into her soul as well.

It mattered.

Guilt and remorse stirred up inside him and filled every fiber of his body. It gathered in his stomach and crept up his throat, closed it and overflowed until he thought he'd choke on it.

"I'm sorry," Damon whispered, voice hoarse and broken.

Careful not to rouse Elena from sleep Damon bent down to her head. His hand was shaking when he let it slide over her cheek in the barest of touches. It was more the ghost of a caress for he didn't dare to truly touch her. He wouldn't taint her even more than he already had.

Damon's hand ghosted to the side and he took hold of her diary once more. He made his way over to the window in two silent strides, sat down on the windowsill and, diary on his bent knees, quickly scribbled something under the entry he'd read earlier.

Elena's baring of her soul that had brought on Damon's decision he was now quickly writing down for her to read. He knew Elena would be mad at him for invading her privacy but he hoped that the confession he crammed onto the page now would ease her rage at least a little.

The words flowed from Damon's mind onto the page in a rush. He didn't have to think about what he'd tell her. He'd tell her everything.

It was the least she deserved after all that he'd done to her.

The only time Damon hesitated briefly in his writings was when he was about to note down the closing of his letter. But then he shrugged and wrote the first thing that had come to his mind. It was the most honest closing after all.

Damon heard Elena shift slightly in her sleep and quickly looked over to her. She'd turned her head from left to the right side, perhaps unconsciously sensing his presence there, and Damon quickly stood up and crept over to place the diary on her pillow again. He left it open for her to find his writing with the first opening of her eyes in the morning.

He wanted her to read it after all. He needed her to read it.

Damon's eyes lingered on Elena's face for a long moment after he'd placed the book aside. His palm grazed her cheek for one last time and he let his thump ghost over her lower lip tenderly before he turned around and left her room with inhuman speed.

The curtains of the window fluttered softly in the breeze he'd stirred up with his exit but Elena didn't notice. Only her hand came up in sleep and unconsciously pulled the blanket closer around her bare shoulders.

In her dreams she felt the softest caress on her cheek and a voice whispered 'I'm sorry' and Elena's face relaxed and a small smile made it onto her lips.

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That smile was still grazing Elena's features when she awoke the next morning. Sunlight streamed through the open window and the curtains fluttered in a soft wind. Elena stretched her arms and craned her neck to get the kink out of it.

Her sleepy eyes fell onto the journal by her side and although she knew she'd left it there last night, feeling too tired and drained to stash it away after writing, she immediately noticed something different about it.

The page that she'd only just begun to write onto last night was suddenly filled to the bottom with a neat scribble.

It wasn't her own handwriting.

"What the…" Elena sat up in bed and pulled the diary onto her lap. Someone had obviously read her journal last night and had written a comment underneath. Someone had been to her room!

Elena felt anger rise up inside her and her eyes scanned the page in a furious scowl. But then her eyes came to rest on the bottom of the page and she gasped in shock.

_**xxx Forever yours, Damon Salvatore xxx**_

There was a small post-scriptum underneath but Elena's wide-opened eyes were glued to the signature. She read it again and again. It didn't change. But… that couldn't be, could it?

Damon?

Damon had come to her room, had read her diary and had then written something for her to find?

Elena's eyes went up to the beginning of the page again. She read the last few words of her own entry and felt immediately ashamed that Damon had apparently read her innermost thoughts.

But then shock and embarrassment made quickly way for curiosity and Elena began to read Damon's words with held breath.

_No, it doesn't, Elena. Now you listen to me and you'll listen carefully because this will be the only time you'll hear me admitting this, ever. Never mind that it's written down and I can't take it back even if I wanted to. Which I don't, so... here's how it is, Elena:_

_YOU ARE NOT A MONSTER_

_You are nothing like me. Because, let's get this straight, you're right calling me that. I am a monster. I did things, terrible things, you don't know the half of. And I hope that you'll never find out because I can't have you thinking even lower of me than you already do. And you're right in doing so. Like I said, I am a monster. I kill without remorse, anyone, anytime, anywhere. It doesn't matter to me, people don't matter. They're humans. They're pray and nothing else. It's my nature, it's what I am._

_But you, Elena… you are everything but that. You're the very opposite of it, actually, and I will rip anyone's throat out who'd dare to see you for anything but what you are._

_You are the kindest, most caring and most selfless person I've ever met. You care for people you don't even know, you put up with everyone's problems for them even if you know they would never do the same for you. That doesn't matter to you, you're not doing it for a reward. You do it because it's the right thing to do and it doesn't make you gullible or stupid but simply amazing._

_I knew it the moment I first met you, Elena. You are an amazing person. You are beautiful, strong, caring, just, clever and funny on top of it._

_You're not the worst company in the world, Elena. In fact, you are the best._

_And I realize something now, sitting here by your side watching you sleep. You look so troubled, your beautiful face drawn into a confused frown I put there with my actions. I hurt you._

_It's not the first time I hurt someone, far from it as you well know. But it's the first time that I'm feeling sorry. Sorry for causing you pain._

_You know, you did this, Elena. You woke up something I'd thought long dead. My conscience, still a bit rusty from 145 years of not-being-used, is nagging me again. And it's telling me right now that it was wrong to do what I did._

_You'll never hear me admit that what I did to the people in Mystic Falls was wrong, because I'm physically incapable of doing that. But what I truly regret and admit here now is this: I regret that I caused you pain. I'm sorry that I hurt you, that I caused you to ever doubt yourself._

_Don't ever do that, Elena._

_There's no need. You are everything a man could ever dream of. And you make me feel like no one else ever has. You make me want to strive for your good opinion. You make me want to deserve you._

_A part of me will always hate you for making me feel this way. But the rest of me always… won't._

_You know, I came to Mystic Falls searching for love. Now I'm leaving again knowing that I found it._

_Take care of yourself, Elena._

_xxx Forever yours, Damon Salvatore xxx_

_P.S.: Stefan truly is the luckiest guy in the world but if you ever tell him I said that – or anything else I confessed in here – I'm gonna… I don't know, burn all of his precious journals for revenge. Or, whatever. Don't tell him._

Elena stared at Damon's words for God-knows-how-long. She didn't notice she was crying until a teardrop fell onto the page and turned the black ink into a blurry spot.

Elena quickly closed the journal and her hands came up to wipe at her eyes. Slowly she lifted her head and caught her image in the mirror. She stared into her tear-stained face for a second before she suddenly jumped from the bed, not doubting for a second the decision that had formed in her head.

Pulling on yesterday's clothes in a hurry Elena bolted from her room and out of the house in a heartbeat and she jumped into the car and drove down the road as if the devil was chasing her.

The streets of Mystic Falls, the buildings, the woods… the entire landscape rushed past Elena without her noticing anything but the hammering of her own heart. Adrenalin dashed through her veins, making her blood rush and pump through her body, and she was capable of only one thought:

'Please, let him still be there!'

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**TBC**

**_Sorry for the terrible cliffhanger but I had to make a cut somewhere. And I know I promised you happy D/E moments and this was severly lacking in that department but the next chapter will have them, for real now. _**


	3. Change

_I'm not sure if this chapter should perhaps be rated M but I think I kept the smut to a relatively tame level. You tell me after you've read the D/E goodness that's to come now. Finally, you may say and… right you are._

_Oh, and a very small part in here was inspired by a scene I read in "Georgia on my mind" yesterday. Amazingly hot story, and I loved the jacket-remark and had to use it. The credit goes to **Meredith Girl**._

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**Chapter Three: Change**

Damon stopped what he'd been doing for the last two hours, namely pacing back and forth the Salvatore living room with a glass of Whiskey in his hand, and threw another look at the clock.

Nearly quarter to ten, he should really get going. He'd been lingering far too long already, God-knows-why, instead of finally leaving this godforsaken town and everything and everyone behind. But it seemed that something was holding him back still for he'd found himself unable, or unwilling, to make that final move just yet.

"Oh, come on," Damon encouraged himself and knocked back his third drink, "it's not like she's gonna come running the moment she reads your stupid drivel!"

Damon placed the Whiskey tumbler back onto the sideboard and his eyes fell onto the short note he'd composed for Stefan earlier. He picked it up and read it once again.

_Congrats, dear brother, you got what you wanted. I'm outta here. See you in a decade or two if you manage to survive that long. My heartfelt sentiments to the poor squirrels of Mystic Falls, I can see them advancing to the top of the 'endangered-for-extinction-list' already._

_Bye now, little bro!_

_P.S.: You should wait with breaking out the champagne until you can share it with Elena. Though perhaps she might not be as glad to see me gone as you'd wish._

The smirk that had crept onto Damon's face when re-reading his squirrels-remark turned stale when his eyes made it to Elena's name. He stared down at it longer than necessary and his index finger traced each letter softly.

Then, with a determined shrug of his shoulders, Damon cleared his throat and put the note back down to lean against a bottle. He took one last look around the living room and slowly walked over to the steps that led into the hall. A black traveling bag containing most of his precious designer clothes stood waiting at the foot and he picked it up easily in walking.

Damon was halfway to the front door, bag slung it over his shoulder, when the sudden sound of a car screeching to a forceful halt outside reached his ears.

It couldn't be her, could it?

Damon listened with held breath to the metallic sound of a car door slamming shut and then someone came running over the graveled driveway towards the house. The sound of small pebbles flying everywhere was deafening.

"Damon?"

He picked up on her scent before her frantic cry had even reached his sensitive ears. The front door flew open and there Elena barged in, panting forcefully.

Damon squinted into the morning sun that steamed in from behind her and illuminated her small form like a halo. She was breathtakingly beautiful as she screeched to a halt in front of his shell-shocked self, erratic gasps leaving her lips along with a relieved "Damon!"

And then, before he could so much as blink the stunned joy from his eyes, Elena was closing the distance between them in three determined and completely doubtless strides. Her hands flew up to his neck and wrought themselves around, seized the back of his head and then Elena's lips clashed with his in a desperate kiss.

The force of Elena's advance had Damon stumble in shock, his body collided hard with the wooden banister behind his back and the breath got knocked from his lungs.

She had come! She was kissing him and… oh God! The traveler bag thudded to the ground and Damon wrapped his arms around the girl, pulled her flush against his body and finally, finally, kissed her back. His eyes closed on their own account as he devoured her hot mouth hungrily and his tongue fought with hers for domination.

Elena felt herself being pulled against Damon's hard body, she could feel his chest rise and fall with each panting breath he took and his hands roamed all over her back, they evoked a fire and sent electric sparks through her. He was setting her on fire with his frantic touches and his mouth… oh God, his mouth on hers, it scorched hers with liquid fire. She could taste a hint of mint mixed with something that was purely Damon, he tasted of Whiskey and something else…

It was a taste she'd forever associate with trust.

Suddenly Damon swirled both of them around in one swift movement, never breaking the kiss in the process. Elena was pushed against the paneled wall and Damon's body collided with hers again. She could feel his hips moving in and then strong hands closed around Elena's ass and she was lifted from the ground.

Instinctively her legs wrapped themselves around his and she couldn't stop the desperate moan from coming out when his arousal pressed hard against her most sensitive spot.

"Oh… God, Damon!" Elena groaned between puffs of air and eventually pulled her mouth away from his. "Please…"

"Please what?" Damon's face failed to show the usual smirk and his voice sounded as breathless as hers.

"Please tell me… you're not… leaving."

Damon blinked surprised before he leaned in and captured Elena's lips in a kiss once more. "Believe me, baby," he groaned into her mouth, "leaving's the last thing… on my mind right now!"

"Good," Elena's one hand roamed through his dark hair while the other began to tear at the collar of his jacket. "Good," she repeated, all the while placing small kisses to the corner of Damon's mouth.

Damon's lips nibbled and kissed their way down her chin and neck and he found her pulse point, hot and so deliciously smelling. Damon closed his eyes in delight and began sucking her warm skin into his mouth. God, she tasted fantastic, so hot and salty and…

Elena stifled slightly in his arms but nevertheless bent her head to give him more access at the same time. "Damon," she moaned breathlessly and pulled at his hair.

"Mh-hm…"

"Damon," Elena tried to tug his head away from her neck, an edge of worry now creeping into her voice. He wouldn't… would he? She grasped a handful of his hair and pulled.

"Ouch, what?" Damon glared at her, his face inches away from hers. Elena stared into his silvery-blue eyes and when she saw no trace of black veins or any sign of him changing in his face she immediately felt sorry and embarrassed.

"I just…"

Damon noticed her downcast eyes and quickly picked up on why she'd stopped.

"Don't worry," he tried to reassure her at once, his hand coming up to gently force her to look at him. "I'm not gonna bite." And then, to lighten up her face, he added with a wink: "Not until you ask me to."

"Not gonna happen," Elena smiled and closed the distance between their mouths. She pulled his lower lip between hers and sucked hard.

"Don't knock it till you've tried it, Elena," he managed to get out before he deepened the kiss. Elena wrenched her mouth away again and Damon growled at the loss.

"I'd rather try this," she smirked and pressed her lower body closer to his straining erection.

Damon let out a pained groan at the feeling and couldn't stop his hips from pushing forward into her again. He stared into her glowing face, amazed by the fire he found in her eyes.

Elena radiated a passion, so completely unabashed, that he'd never seen before. He'd always known that deep down inside her there had to be more than just the righteous little girl but this… God, she was truly amazing.

Damon felt her hands fall onto his shoulders and then Elena began to tug on his jacket once more.

"Hey, watch the leather! This is D&G, you know?" He couldn't help it, this was his favorite jacket after all.

"Well, then take it off already!" Elena threw back and unhooked her legs from around his body. Damon set her down and, in no more than a heartbeat, carelessly tossed his leather jacket to the ground. Then he pulled Elena to him once again and carded his hands through her hair before he pulled her in for another deep kiss.

She tasted like heaven to him.

Damon felt Elena's small hands on his back once more, they roamed restlessly over his shirt as if she couldn't decide which part of him to touch first and Damon could easily relate to that. He had trouble keeping his hands in one place as well, he wanted, needed, to feel all of her glorious hot skin at once. He stroked down every part of her back and sides and then his hands traveled lower and he traced the hem of her shirt lightly before he dared to let his fingers glide underneath.

The sweetest moan escaped Elena's lips and Damon quickly fell in beside her. It was nearly too much, the feeling of her soft bare skin under his fingers almost made him lose control. He pulled his mouth away from hers and, gasping for breath, stared at her flushed face.

God, she was beautiful like this!

Elena opened her eyes when Damon suddenly broke the kiss. She locked her gaze with his and felt instantly devoured by his intense stare.

"Elena, I…" Damon broke off, not really knowing what he wanted to say at all, and kept staring into her wide-opened eyes. God, he wanted her so much. He needed to be close to her, inside her, but… at the same time he was almost, did he dare to say it? He was almost afraid to take that next step.

Damon knew instantly that if he'd do that, if she would let him, then that would be it. He'd never be able to leave after that. It would break Elena's heart and he'd sworn to never again do anything that would hurt her.

But he couldn't stay in Mystic Falls either! He couldn't!

Elena must have sensed his sudden hesitation because her eyes once more sought out his and she whispered: "What is it? Damon?"

Damon closed his eyes for a second and then, letting a deep sigh slip past his lips, he let go of her and took a step back.

Elena felt the loss of his… well, not warmth because he didn't radiate much body heat at all… well, she felt the loss of his body, of him, instantly. A confused frown crossed her flushed face.

"Damon?"

"Elena, I…" Damon avoided her gaze and rolled his eyes in frustration instead. Frustration at his own stupidity. What the hell was he doing?

Here she was, the girl he wanted like he'd wanted nobody else, ever… ready to give herself to him, without compulsion, without a doubt about who or what he was…

Elena knew him, better than anybody else ever had, she knew his faults and crimes… and yet she was here, willingly. She was ready to finally act on the underlying passion that had been there between them from the earliest moment on. The pull neither of them had been strong enough to ignore and that they'd tried in vain to channel into their verbal sparring… Elena was willing to throw caution to the wind and not deny herself any longer what she'd wanted all along.

And here he was, denying himself the sweetest of sins, doubting his actions… what was wrong with him? Why was he standing here, worrying about her feelings and debating with his conscience…

"Don't, please!"

Elena's sudden plea fought its way through Damon's thoughts and he looked at her again. Her eyes bore into him like two huge pools of dark chocolate and Damon knew that he wouldn't be able to resist her, whatever it was she didn't want him to do.

Still, the moment of pure lust was broken between them and Damon thought it best to retreat to safer grounds for now. So he put his trademark smirk onto his face and invaded her personal space just barely when he stated:

"You know, that particular plea is usually followed by my 'bite-drain-and-kill-routine' and since you made it quite clear earlier that's not gonna happen you're gonna have to be a bit more specific. What is it you don't want me to do?"

Elena listened to his words in silent shock. She couldn't believe that one minute they'd been on the verge of… you know, and the next Damon would just go back to his annoying cocky self, mocking her with every word that left his mouth.

What was wrong with him?

Or rather… what was wrong with her that she'd thought coming here, showing him how she felt… that it would ever change anything?

This was Damon Salvatore she was talking about! He'd never change!

"Elena?" Damon asked when no reaction was coming from her. "Did you swallow your tongue? Or, did I swallow it earlier?"

The pleased smirk on Damon's face was the last Elena saw before she pushed him aside with force and stumbled to the front door.

She needed to leave, now!

* * *

**TBC**

_I honestly don't know why every chapter I write always ends so not-happy! I'm sorry for that, I'll try to make up for it with more smutty goodness in the next part, promise._


	4. Gravity

_Okay, this is the third or fourth version of this chapter that I tried to write. Several other versions I had to change all over or delete again, that's why it took me so long to update. I was in some kind of heartbreaking sad mood (don't know why) and couldn't come up with anything funny. Just more drama. And I didn't want that for this story._

_So now I finally present to you the lightest version of the second to last chapter I could imagine. It's still pretty much drama all along though, sorry. The song used in here is 'Gravity' by Sara Bareilles and I can't seem to get it out of my mind. I think it fits very well, although it may make Damon seem very OOC. Sorry for that as well._

_This part follows right where we left off. And, yes, you got that right. It's the second to last part and next chapter will be the end of this. Hope you like it. And in case I don't say it enough: Thank you for your wonderful support. You readers rock!_

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**Chapter Four: Gravity**

She needed to leave, now!

Elena rushed up to the front door and put her hand on the doorknob. She half-expected Damon to come after her with his superhuman speed. But then she realized that he wouldn't try to stop her this time and Elena suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. She turned her head and eyed him wearily.

Damon was simply standing where she'd left him, in the very same spot they'd just made out in. He was leaning with his shoulder against the wall in an almost casual pose, arms crossed in front of his chest. Only in his face she could see traces of anxiousness, his stormy blue eyes being the only thing betraying his seemingly cool appearance.

Elena had no idea when she'd started noticing the emotions flickering through his eyes but at some point in the past few days she'd obviously learned to. Because right now… she was suddenly able to see. His feelings lay bare before her, shining from his eyes, like the pages of an open book.

But it was a book Elena had only read the first chapter of and that had left her wanting to ascertain the revealing end. Gripping and full of suspense like a true page-turning detective-story Damon was keeping her on the edge of her seat and she'd have to read to the very last page or she'd never discover the full truth.

Who had committed the murder? Who would turn out to be the real culprit here?

Was it Damon?

Elena took a deep breath and turned completely around. "Okay, you know what? I'm not gonna put this one aside only half-read. I'm not a quitter!"

Damon stared at her in confusion. "Care to explain what you're talking about, Elena?"

"I won't quit and I'm not gonna run, Damon. We're gonna talk about this."

"And this being…?" Damon raised an eyebrow in question although Elena was sure he knew what she'd meant.

"This. You, me… **us**!" Elena underlined her words with an all-encompassing gesture of her hand before she took one determined step closer to him. Damon's eyebrows had risen even higher, not believing his ears, and he'd started closing the distance between them.

"And what makes you think there's an 'us' here?"

Elena could slowly feel anger rising in her veins and it made her mirror his snarky attitude. "Deny it all you like, Damon, but there's been an 'us' from the very beginning. Even when I still hated you we had something. And, if that doesn't count for anything then I'd say that at least the intense make-out session we've just performed is a dead give-away and surely deserves an 'us', don't you think?"

"Elena, if every hot kiss I shared with any woman would call for that kind of commitment" Damon replied with a mock-patience you'd use to explain something to a child, "then I would have to have been part of a thousand 'usses' over the years!"

He shuddered and Elena rolled her eyes at his display of mock-disgust. "Oh yeah, Mr. Sex-On-Legs-No-Woman-Can-Ever-Resist. You're so hot that women throw themselves at you wherever you go and declare their undying love to you all the time!"

"I know," Damon's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I can't help it that women want me for all eternity. Too bad that I, in return, want them for a single purpose only. Or, wait… make that two." Damon showed her his most evil smirk. "I forgot their blood."

"Well, if that's so," Elena decided to ignore the not-so-subtle reminder of his diet and continued with a sudden seriousness, "then… is that what I am to you, too? Another one of those stupid women who throw themselves at you?"

Damon's head turned towards the front door and for a second Elena thought she saw something like pain flicker through his eyes. But when he looked back at her they held nothing but his usual smug glint and he gave her a casual shrug.

"Well, you **did** barge in and simply pounce on me earlier. Let's not forget that, Elena. It wasn't me who attached themselves to my lips in an almost desperate way. I simply went along for the ride because, hey, I'm only a guy after all. But…"

Damon held up a hand to stop the protest that Elena had wanted to shoot back. And then he suddenly turned back to where he'd left his bag earlier and picked it up from the ground. Too fast for Elena to even think about a reply he was back to facing her again and there was something in his eyes Elena had rarely seen before.

Damon looked at her almost apologetically. He placed a hand onto her upper arm, steered her over to the front door and, with a swift pleading glance to the door and back to her face, Damon spoke at last:

"Let's just not make a big deal out of it, okay? I know it was a glitch, nothing but a sweet goodbye between friends and I'm sure Stefan will understand that. So, no need to worry about it."

Damon pulled the front door open in one swift move and added: "Am I right, Stefan?"

Elena let out a shocked gasp when her eyes fell onto Stefan, standing in the doorway with an expression of shock, worry and something that resembled a big question mark on his face.

His dark eyes traveled from his brother to Elena and when he noticed her shocked state he immediately took a step closer.

"Elena? What…"

"Oh God, Stefan!" Elena gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She looked back at Damon and… suddenly the scales fell from her eyes.

He'd known Stefan was there, behind the door, listening to every word they'd said. That's why he'd suddenly played down what had happened between them to nothing but a glitch! He hadn't wanted for Stefan to find out like this!

But then, that would mean… Damon cared about Stefan's feelings.

Or, Elena suddenly thought while she still stared back and forth between the brothers and her eyes stayed on Damon longer than on Stefan, or was it that Damon simply didn't want Stefan to think bad of Elena? Had he done it to protect her rather than his brother's feelings?

Either way, she rationalized, Damon cared.

For her, for Stefan… probably for either of them.

'As if you didn't know that already!' a voice inside Elena's head suddenly whispered and she knew instantly that it was right. Of course Damon cared, there could be no doubt about that. He'd made it unmistakably clear.

Earlier this morning, when she'd woken up and had found her journal with Damon's note in it… Elena hadn't even had to read between the lines to pick up on his feelings.

It was all there, black on white, the simple truth.

He'd confessed that a part of him would always hate her for what she'd done to him, for how she'd changed him, but that the rest of him always wouldn't.

Wasn't that similar to saying that a part of him would always love her?

Elena's eyes traveled back to where Damon stood and she stared at him in silence. Damon wasn't meeting her gaze but was looking at Stefan instead. The younger vampire was still frozen to his spot half-way in the house and half-out and his eyes were trained on Elena in return.

The three of them formed the perfect triangle.

It was Damon who at last broke the silence that had fallen over them. "Huh, well, as much as I'd love to be a part of this love-triangle for a little longer," he sent Elena a knowing smirk and then walked up to her, took hold of her hand and placed the most gentle of kisses onto it. "I really should get going. Thank you, Elena, for… you know, everything."

Elena was so mesmerized by the feeling of his lips on her skin and the tingling that shot through her body because of it, that his words didn't register on her mind at all. Only when Stefan frowned: "You're leaving?" did she finally understand.

"Yes, brother, I am!" Damon smirked and patted him on the shoulder in passing. "I even left you a note this time because I thought I'd be gone by the time you'd be back and I didn't want you to worry. But, you see… I got held up a bit."

He threw a side glance at Elena who blushed furiously at his comment. Damon's smirk turned into a more genuine smile when he drank in the sight of her flushed face. "Perfect picture to remember you by, Elena dear." And then, with a last friendly nod and a softly muttered "Take care of her, brother!" Damon swept past Stefan out of the door and towards his car.

"Where are you going, Damon?" Stefan called after him when he'd finally found his voice again. He watched Damon throw his bag into the trunk and saunter to the driver's door. When he'd opened it Damon finally answered: "Don't know yet. Anywhere but here I guess. Any suggestions?"

Stefan let a small smile graze his lips. "How about California? I've heard it to be very nice at all times of the year."

"California, huh?" Damon shrugged and slipped behind the steering wheel. Before he closed the door he threw back: "I'll let you know if I settle down somewhere. After all, you'll need an address to send the wedding invitation to, right? Wouldn't wanna miss it!"

Elena had watched the almost friendly exchange between the brothers in stunned shock. She couldn't believe what was happening here.

Damon was leaving? He was leaving her, just like that? Without… without sorting anything out? She stared at the car that Damon was now setting in reverse. He threw her one last look through the open window and smirked: "Can't wait to see you in your wedding dress, Elena. I'm sure you'll look stunning!"

Finally Elena found her voice again and she cried out all the anger and shock she was feeling right now. "Fuck you, Damon Salvatore!"

Stefan stared at her from the side but Elena didn't notice anything besides Damon's bright shining eyes and his smug laughter. To her it sounded like he was saying: "You wish!"

And the worst part was that he'd be right.

She wished.

* * *

Damon had been driving down the Route 95 to Washington for less than an hour when his conscience, that damn inconvenient voice inside his head that had been woken up by Elena and hadn't shut up ever since he'd left Mystic Falls, had finally overpowered his strong will to ignore it.

With a deep sigh and a headshake he slowed down his blue Mustang and eventually pulled over to stop at the side of the road. And there he sat, hands clasped around the steering wheel, and listened to his own inner debate while the radio played a slow and sad song his subconscious was only half-listening to.

_Something always brings me back to you.  
It never takes too long.  
No matter what I say or do  
I'll still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone._

'You shouldn't have left just like that, you know?' the tiny devil on Damon's left shoulder whispered conspiringly.

'That's right,' came the answer from the right side. 'It was completely stupid! You should have waited for Stefan to clear out again and then you should have taken advantage of the sweet willing girl for real before you left!'

'That's not what I meant and you know it,' the left side spoke up immediately and Damon realized with a small smile that it sounded just like Elena. He could easily picture the brunette girl lecturing him like this, one hand on her hip while the other waved a finger in front of his face.

Meanwhile Mini-Elena continued her lecture in Damon's head: 'I meant that you shouldn't have left at all! What is it that you're trying to run from? Caring for her? It's way too late for that, don't you think?'

_You hold me without touch.  
You keep me without chains.  
I never wanted anything so much  
Than to drown in your love and not feel your rain._

Yes, Damon knew that it was too late already. He'd allowed himself to care for Elena and he couldn't even say when it had happened.

Things had changed so gradually that he couldn't even define the exact point at which he'd stopped comparing Elena to Katherine. All he knew was that it had started some time before they'd opened the tomb, before he'd learned of Katherine's betrayal.

If Damon was being completely honest with himself, and he saw no reason not to be anymore, he had to admit that deep down inside he'd almost changed his mind about wanting to open the tomb. He'd dreaded the consequences because he'd realized he didn't want Katherine back any longer.

And it had been Elena's doing. Somewhere along the way the human girl with all her liveliness had taken over and had pushed his feelings for Katherine into the backseat of his mind.

So much so that he'd almost been relieved when they'd found out Katherine hadn't been in the tomb. Well, okay… at first he'd been too shocked to realize it.

145 years wasted on a search that had all been for nothing, all his efforts gone to waste… it had shocked him, true. But later, back at home, shock had made way for something else… something you might even call an epiphany.

Damon had realized that he was free at last.

_Set me free, leave me be.  
I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.  
Here I am and I stand so tall,  
Just the way I'm supposed to be._

Damon was finally free of Katherine, free of pretending to be someone he no longer wanted to be.

Free to do what he wanted, to go where he wanted, to be with whom he wanted to be.

Elena.

The girl that had stumbled into his life and had turned it upside-down in a matter of days. The girl that had, against her will, been thrown into a world of mystery, vampires and witches and that had accepted it in a heartbeat.

Accepted him, too.

There'd been only a brief time when she'd been afraid of him once she'd known what he was. She'd taken everything that had been thrown at her in stride and had managed to not lose her focus. She'd still seen the good in everything that had happened.

And in him.

She'd brought out his humanity at last.

_You loved me 'cause I'm fragile.  
When I thought that I was strong.  
But you touch me for a little while  
And all my fragile strength is gone._

Elena had brought out his long-lost humanity and a part of Damon would always hate her for it. That's what he'd written in her journal and it was true.

A small part of him hated her. Life had been so much easier before, when all he'd had to decide had been whether to wipe his victim's minds or simply kill them.

He hadn't had to waste a single thought on who his victims were, who their friends were, if they were perhaps connected to Elena in any way and whether he'd hurt her by what he did.

Life had been so much simpler before something like remorse and his conscience had started weighing him down.

If Damon were honest he'd have to admit that life had been easier before he'd known Elena. And that's why a part of him would always hate her. Because she'd… captured him.

_Set me free, leave me be.  
I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.  
Here I am and I stand so tall,  
Just the way I'm supposed to be.  
But you're on to me and all over me._

Elena had captured him.

She'd brought out his humanity and, worst of all, she'd made him start to like it. Start to think that maybe… Stefan's way of existing wasn't that bad after all. If it allowed his brother to feel human, if it allowed him to be part of people's lives, of Elena's life…

Maybe it wasn't so bad…

_I live here on my knees as I try to make you see that_

_You're everything I think I need here on the ground.  
But you're neither friend nor foe though I  
Can't seem to let you go.  
The one thing that I still know is that  
You're keeping me down,_

And that's why Damon had needed to leave. When thoughts like that had begun to form inside his head he'd known that he'd needed to leave.

Stefan's way of life was… wrong! Disgusting! It wasn't something to consider, ever!

They were vampires, monsters, dangerous creatures of the night and they weren't supposed to life off squirrels and skunks or whatever Stefan's diet consisted of these days. Damon had never bothered to look too closely. Whatever animal it was, it wouldn't do for him!

He was a wild animal that existed for the hunt and the kill and not a pet-dog kept to watch the yard and cuddle with.

He wasn't supposed to be kept down. That's why he'd needed to leave, right?

Right?

_You're on to me, you're on to me and all over.  
Something always brings me back to you  
And never takes too long._

Damon's ears picked up on the last few words coming from the radio and he turned it off in disgust. Then he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on, all this thinking couldn't be good for anyone.

Or maybe he hadn't fed in too long and he was starting to feel a little lightheaded because of that.

"Oh, screw it, who are you trying to fool?"

Damon's frustrated growl echoed through the car. He closed his eyes and when all he could see in his mind was Elena's smiling face the last remaining doubt vanished.

"Admit it, Damon Salvatore," he sighed at last. "You're not gonna leave her behind like that. In fact, you're not gonna leave her, period!"

He set the car in reverse and turned around without looking back or forth. Luckily there was no other car in sight and the deserted road stretched out before him.

"You're screwed," Damon shook his head in defeat and stepped on the pedal.

And hour later he arrived back in Mystic Falls and drove straight to Elena's house. With a determined sigh he left the car and walked up to the front door.

* * *

**TBC**

**_Please let me know what you think of this, I'm not so sure I did okay. But it was the best I could come up with and I'm dying to know your opinion. The last part may take me a few days again, I have to study for my exams. But I'll try to be quick._**


	5. This Responsible Adult Thing

_Okay folks, change of plans. **This is not the last chapter.** This new angle popped up inside my head today and I had to write this immediately. Sorry that there's no Delena-goodness in here at all but… what can I say, I was in the mood for some Damon/Jenna bonding. So this is just that. Sorry that it doesn't resolve anything on the Delena-front yet._

_Oh, and I realized that I made Damon far too young in the prequel to this story. I made him twenty then (or, you know… he's been twenty for 145 years) but that can't be because he wouldn't be able to pose as Stefan's legal guardian then. And the adults he's dealt with so far (Sheriff Forbes, Alaric, Mrs. Lockwood) all treated him like an equal. So I decided to make him closer to thirty than twenty. I know that it doesn't fit with what I wrote in 'The Scent Of Trust' but… whatever._

_**SPOILER WARNING: I couldn't resist. I had to include a tiny bit of something that will come up in the next episode (1x15: A Few Good Men). Hope you like that new plot twist.**_

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**Chapter Five: This Responsible-Adult-Thing**

Damon stood outside of his car for a second, debating whether or not he should use the front door of Elena's home. Most times when he'd come to see her he'd just taken a big leap up to her window. It was open now, too. Damon could easily see it from where he stood. The glass reflected the afternoon sun still high up in the sky and dazzled his sight if he'd look at it too long. He could easily jump up there and enter Elena's bedroom directly.

On the other hand… there had been a few times Damon had actually knocked on the front door, on official business so to speak. There'd been the night he'd come with Caroline hanging from his arm for example, or when he'd cooked dinner with Jenna…

Damon had used the front door on these occasions and that's what he'd do now, too. He straightened up from where he'd leaned against his car and made his way across the front yard.

But before he'd reached the porch the door suddenly opened and he saw Jenna coming out, head turned backwards, throwing over her shoulder: "Bye, Jeremy. I'll be back in an hour."

She straightened her head and Damon couldn't help but feel pleased when Jenna startled a little as she came face to face with him.

"Oh God, Damon," Jenna let out an embarrassed laugh, "you startled me. Sneaky much?"

"Not at all," he smirked back. "Hello Jenna. Nice to see you again."

"You too," she took a step back and relaxed visibly. "Ugh, are you looking for Elena?"

"Yes, is she home?"

It had dawned on Damon just now that perhaps Elena hadn't returned from the Boarding House yet. She might still be there, having a hard time explaining things to Stefan. Damon frowned. He couldn't imagine that to be the least bit pleasant, talking to his broody-pants of a brother was always tiring.

And surely the kind of talk Elena would have felt the need of having… Damon wasn't sure what Elena would tell Stefan but, whatever details she'd reveal, he knew that it must hurt her having to do it.

"No, she isn't," Jenna's voice pulled Damon out of his thoughts and his frown deepened. "In fact, you just missed her."

"Oh, but then, she was here earlier?" His eyes brightened slightly. So Elena wasn't with Stefan anymore, that's a good sign.

"Yeah, Elena came home about an hour ago. I didn't even know she was gone, she must have sneaked out very early this morning." Damon didn't miss the slightly annoyed tone in Jenna's voice and he sent her a smile that clearly said 'Oh well, kids these days, you know?'

It didn't do anything to ease Jenna's concerns though. She threw a brief look to the ground and shook her head. "I don't like this, she's…"

Damon bent his head to catch her eye. "Yes?"

Jenna let out a small sigh and looked at Damon's face. She must have found whatever she'd been looking for because the next moment she sighed again. "I know you're Stefan's brother and you probably won't like this, but…"

"But what?" Damon could feel a slight touch of worry creeping up on him but mostly he felt smug because Jenna obviously had something to say against Stefan. That could only be good, right? He tried to show his best 'He's-my-little-brother-and-I'm-worried-he-did-something-wrong' face and it seemed to work because Jenna then took him by the arm and led him onto the porch. There she sat down on the small bench and Damon took a seat next to her.

"You know, Damon," Jenna began at last. "Elena's had a rough couple of months and at first, when she'd started dating Stefan, I thought things would brighten up a bit. She seemed to be happy again, or… well, happier."

Damon gave her an encouraging nod but remained silent for now.

"And it's not that I don't like Stefan, he seems like a good guy, but…" Jenna let the sentence trail off, not sure how to voice her thoughts.

"But?"

"Somehow he puts Elena on an emotional roller coaster. I mean, one moment they're happy together, the next day she tells me they broke off, then they're back together… she's gone from cloud number nine to terrible heartache and back to happily ever after in the matter of days and," Jenna shrugged helplessly and Damon had to force himself to not let the glee show on his face. This was even better than he'd dared to hope. Jenna was totally pushing things in the right direction for him, and he hadn't even had to compel her for it!

"And then all this sneaking around and staying out all night Elena's done lately," Jenna continued with a glance at Damon's face, "keeping things from me, lying, it's just not like her! It seems as if, now that Jeremy has finally pulled himself out of his mess, Elena's starting to really get into it. And I don't know what to do with her!"

Damon didn't know why but suddenly he felt the need to defend Elena's actions. "If this is about the little trip to Atlanta, that's actually my fault," he threw in with an apologetic look on his face.

"Atlanta?" Jenna repeated suspiciously. "I don't… Elena was in Atlanta?" She sat up straight and stared at Damon. "With you? When did that happen?"

Oh damn it! He could have smacked his forehead for his own stupidity. Why did he have to open his mouth at all? Damon bent forward and, elbows resting on his knees, placed his head in his hands. Then he glanced at Jenna from the side. She didn't look too happy and was clearly waiting for an explanation.

"Oh, okay," he sighed at last. "Last week, you know, when she wracked the car? I guess Elena told you she'd slept at Bonnie's…"

"Only she didn't," Jenna threw in, "I know. But Elena never said where she'd been. We got a little sidetracked because of the adoption thing, you know? But, I'd just assumed she'd spent the night with Stefan, not you!" Jenna's eyes suddenly hardened visibly. "Did you have something to do with her causing the accident?"

"No!" Damon held up his hands in defense. "Actually, I saved her!" Damon decided then that he'd tell the truth for once. Or, you know, as much of the truth as he would have to reveal to get back in Jenna's good graces. "There was some fall-out with Stefan I think and Elena wracked the car because of it. I found her on the road and she was pretty much shaken up but not hurt. And she didn't wanna go home like that. I was on my way to Atlanta anyway and, well… yeah, I took her along. She really looked like she could use a small break."

"And then what? You took her to a bar and let her get drunk?" Jenna's voice was still hard but not as unfriendly as it had been before. "Because, you know, I recognize the drunken-teenage-girl-trying-to-talk-her-way-out-of-a-mess-routine now!"

"From personal experience I'd think," Damon couldn't help but send her a smirk and was relieved to see Jenna's stern face crack.

"Only too vividly," Jenna shrugged. "But that doesn't mean I'm okay with this, Damon!"

"I know," Damon tried to look contrite, "and I'm sorry. It wasn't very adult of me, was it?"

"No, it wasn't," Jenna shook her head but then she added: "But then I guess you're just as new to this 'responsible-adult-thing' as I am, right?"

"Huh?"

"I mean," Jenna clarified, "I know what it's like to be thrown head-first into playing the parent when you've actually never had to act or even feel like a grown-up before. I don't know what I'm doing with Elena and Jeremy most of the time and I figure you'd feel the same way with Stefan, seeing that you're… what, barely twenty-five?"

Damon shot her a surprised glance. "Oh, that! Yes, it's…" He didn't comment on the age-remark but wondered if he really looked only twenty-five to her.

"How long have you been… I mean, when did your parents…" Jenna hesitated, not sure whether he'd be okay with talking about that with her. Because, they didn't know each other that well, did they?

"Our mother died when Stefan was only seven," Damon replied, not sure why he'd do so at all. He hadn't talked or even thought about his mother in a very long time.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Damon." Jenna placed a hand onto his arm and Damon stared down at it. "That must have been hard for both of you."

"Yeah, well," Damon sat up straight and let his head rest against the wall. He spoke with a hint of finality. "That was a long time ago, so…"

Jenna had picked up on the change in Damon's demeanor and quickly dropped the subject. But then, a quick decision forming in her head, she addressed him again before he had the chance to leave.

"Damon, there's… look, can I tell you something?"

He looked at her serious face and nodded. Finding Elena could wait for another few minutes, he figured. Whatever was on Jenna's mind now, it seemed to be important, and serious.

"I really need to tell somebody and I don't know who else I could trust it with," Jenna went on. "You seem to care for Elena, so…"

"I do," Damon replied immediately and waited for her to go on.

"You know that she just found out she's been adopted, right?" Jenna inquired cautiously.

"Yes,"

"Well, it wasn't an all-legal adoption back then. Elena's birth mother showed up out of nowhere, pregnant, and Elena's parents took her in, you know? And when the girl, Isabel, just left shortly after giving birth to Elena, they arranged for the adoption somehow."

"Huh," Damon hummed. He hadn't known all the details but most of what Jenna had just confessed wasn't news to him. Not that he'd let her know that.

"And until now no one ever questioned any of it, but…" Jenna broke off and let out a sigh.

"But?"

Jenna's green eyes showed something like fear when she looked at Damon and confessed barely above a whisper: "But now I'm afraid he's gonna find out the truth and is gonna take her away!"

"He?" Damon frowned confused. "Who are you talking about, Jenna?"

"Alaric," Jenna replied and nervously bit her lower lip. "Damon, I think he might be Elena's real father!"

"Huh?" Damon's eyes narrowed as he stared at Jenna. "Saltzmann? The teacher?"

Jenna simply nodded.

"How do you know?"

"I don't know for sure," Jenna relented. Her voice sounded as if she was close to tears and Damon took hold of her hand without really noticing it. "I mean, he told me about his dead wife and all but… I never… but then, last night we went back to his apartment after our date and I saw a picture of her on his desk." Jenna stared into Damon's face. "Damon, I recognized her immediately. His dead wife is Elena's birth mother."

Oh well, Damon sure as hell hadn't seen this coming. Not that he cared one way or another about the strange teacher's dead wife, mind you. It didn't matter to him at all.

But he could clearly see where this would all end up in one big fat emotional turmoil for Elena, **if** it was indeed true and **if** she'd ever find out that is…

And somehow he'd have to come to terms with the fact that from now on things like that would have to matter to him, too.

And that's why he decided immediately to take a closer look into the first if and make sure the second one didn't come to pass any time soon. Meaning, he'd have to find out more about who Elena's birth mother had been and whether she'd been connected to the teacher with the strange name at all. And on top of that he'd have to make sure this little secret wouldn't get back to Elena any time soon.

With something resembling a sigh Damon turned his head and captured Jenna's gaze. He leaned closer to her and his pupils dilated slightly when he let his compulsion work.

"Jenna, listen. You won't tell Elena about any of this, you understand? In fact, forget you ever found out that little bit about the teacher's wife. You didn't recognize her picture at all, got it?"

Jenna's eyes had glazed over and she mumbled her consent to his compelling in a haze.

"Okay then," Damon smirked and waited for Jenna to snap out of it.

"Ugh," Jenna frowned and Damon quickly distracted her.

"So, Jenna. Where did you say Elena went? I really need to talk to her."

"I don't know where she went, Damon. She wanted to call Bonnie earlier but then she remembered that it wouldn't be such a good idea, what with her Grandmother's death and all."

"Oh, right," Damon had nearly forgotten about the witch's death. "So, where could she have gone then?"

"I don't know," Jenna shrugged and stood up from the bench. Damon followed her to the edge of the porch. "Perhaps you should ask your brother? Or you could ask Caroline. Maybe Elena went to spend some time with her."

"Huh," Damon shuddered inwardly. Neither were options he liked all that much. He had no mind for dealing with Caroline now but his only other alternative seemed to be Stefan. And Damon didn't think he could stomach a heart-to-heart with his little brother right now.

Not when he didn't know what Elena had told him about their heated goodbye-kiss. Because if Elena had somehow felt the need to fess up something… he could easily walk into a waiting stake once he'd open the door to the boarding house.

Although, Damon thought suddenly, Stefan thought him gone, didn't he? He wouldn't expect him back so soon. That should give him some advantage. Not that he'd need it, he could take anything his weak animal-sucking brother would care to throw at him.

He was the stronger one by far. So he'd pay his little brother a visit. Should be fun to see what Elena had fessed up to and what she'd decided to conceal.

Damon turned back to where Jenna still stood on the porch. He gave her a smile and winked: "You know, Jenna. We should do this more often. It was really nice talking to you."

"Likewise," Jenna smiled against her will. She couldn't believe she was flirting with him, again! She had Alaric now, hadn't she? Oh well. Old habits, she guessed, died hard.

She watched Damon jump into his car and drive off before she made her way over to where she'd parked her SUV, still smiling slightly.

She couldn't help it. She liked him.

* * *

**TBC**

_I know, I know. Pointless little scene with nothing solved whatsoever. Still, did you like it? I think I wrote Damon a little bit more in character here, don't you? Let me now. And don't worry, Delena-goodness is on its way._


	6. It Just Happened

_Okay, finally I'm back. Sorry for the long wait, I hope this will make it up to you. I wrote this entire chapter today, for the last eight hours I've done nothing else. I needed to get this done today. So here it is, the final part. I tried to keep the Stefan/Elena scene as short and dispassionate as possible but the issue had to be addressed somehow. But after that it's all Delena goodness (not M-rated though, sorry) and the long-awaited happy ending. Have fun._

_Oh, and if there are any mistakes in here... well, I was too impatient to even let it go through spellcheck. Sorry for any false grammar or misspellings.  
_

_And let me say this again: Thank you sooooo much for your words of praise, I never would have dreamed this story would top the one-hundred-reviews mark. You're amazing, guys! It was a pleasure to write for each and every one of you._

_

* * *

  
_

**Chapter Six: It Just Happened  
**

"_Fuck you, Damon Salvatore!"_

Elena tried to block it out but the words still kept echoing through her head, loud as a marching band. Even now, hours later, when she sat huddled at the foot of her parents' grave with her back resting against another withered headstone, the sound of her own angry voice crying out these words was haunting her still.

"_Fuck you, Damon Salvatore!"_

Should these hateful words really be the last thing she ever said to Damon? Elena drew her knees higher up to her chest and put her arms around her legs. She let out a deep sigh.

And should these words also be the ones that defined the end of her relationship with Stefan?

Elena had absolutely no idea where she and Stefan momentarily stood. Were they still together? Where they… friends? Or did he hate her now for what she'd done?

Elena had no clue.

She sighed again and picked up her journal from where she'd placed it next to her on the soft grass. Her eyes flew once again over what she'd written earlier. She'd read her own words ten times already and yet she wasn't sure what she'd wanted to express.

_Dear Diary,_

_Damon left. He left after I… I'm not gonna get into that now, I still can't believe that I jumped him and kissed him and then… he'd simply leave. It's still too fresh, too raw to think about that._

_But Stefan's face when he heard me crying 'Fuck you' after Damon… I'll never forget Stefan's face._

_It was as if I could watch the realization creep onto him in slow-motion. His eyes hardened, his jaw clenched and I could feel every muscle in his body tense up._

_I don't know how he did it but he knew. In that instant he knew what I'd done. The one thing that I'd promised myself to never do, to never become…_

_The moment I'd kissed Damon I had become Katherine and I had made history repeat itself. I'd put myself right in the middle of the two and played with them._

_I had Stefan, and I love him. And yet I've developed feelings for Damon, too. I kissed him and… honestly, I know that if he hadn't stopped we would have done a lot more than kissing. I was ready to… to give myself to him completely._

_I wanted to! I wanted to be with him. And a part of me still does, a part of me is yearning for his kiss, his touch… he set me on fire and then he left and I feel like he took all the water with him so that the fire can't be doused again. It can't be put out._

_And Stefan must have seen it, must have felt it, because… God, the look he gave me…_

_It hurt to see him like that. As if he was in deep physical pain. And I wanted to make it better but he wouldn't let me. He wouldn't let me touch him, he actually backed away from my touch as if I'd been the one to stab him in the gut with a knife._

_And I was._

_Without a word he walked away and I followed him into the house. He was reading Damon's note when I reached him and he looked at me with such pain and disappointment… he held the note out for me to read and… oh God, I did the worst thing possible. I laughed!_

_The note was so Damon! He wrote something about the poor squirrels that would become extinguished if Stefan would keep feeding on them… I don't remember exactly what he wrote but… it was so like him. I could hear his smug voice in my head and although I was still angry and hurt I couldn't help but laugh!_

_Stefan stared at me as if I was a crazy person then. And maybe I am, I don't know. I don't know anything anymore._

_All I know is that what I did next was exactly what a crazy person would have done. I confessed that I'd kissed Damon and then I started to apologize, to defend myself and, worst of all, I tried to defend Damon to him, too. I tried to tell Stefan that Damon wasn't the monster he saw, that there was actually a good side, a human side, to him too. Through all of my ramblings Stefan wouldn't meet my eyes, he kept his gaze lower… now I realize that he was staring at my necklace. The one he gave to me, the one filled with vervain meant to protect me from being compelled._

_Maybe he'd hoped to find it gone, he'd hoped to find an explanation for my crazy actions. But Damon never compelled me, I did everything I did out of my own free will. Stefan knows it and… at one point during my crazy ramblings he simply turned around and walked away._

_I followed him upstairs, all the while talking, begging him to listen, to understand. We reached his room and… he looked at me then, hurt and anger and pain all visible in his eyes. He said 'You should go, Elena!', he forced it out between clenched teeth and then… he closed the door in my face. He shut me out and there was nothing left for me to do but go. So I left and…_

_And that's it._

_Damon is gone and Stefan shut me out of his life… and I'm back where it all began. I'm sitting at my parents' grave, crying and writing in here, just like I did last summer before the Salvatore brothers came into my life._

_I'm back to where it all began. And I don't know how to go on this time._

_I can't do it again._

Elena let the journal sink to the ground and closed her eyes to stop fresh tears from falling onto the page. She buried her face in her hands and let the sobs wrack her body.

There was no way for her to go on this time, she knew it.

* * *

Damon entered the cemetery and immediately felt her presence before he'd even caught the first glimpse of Elena's small form all huddled up on the ground.

He walked slowly closer to her from behind her right, not deliberately trying to move silently. Still, his feet made no sound on the soft grass at all and he didn't step on a twig like a human would surely have done. It was a vampire thing, after more than a hundred years of practice he didn't have to concentrate on moving unheard any more.

Damon noticed Elena's journal placed next to her and he could make out a pen in her hand but it seemed she was done writing for now. The hand with the pen hadn't moved from the ground since Damon had started watching her.

He tried to catch the look on her face to gauge her mood but the long dark strands of her hair prevented him from catching a glimpse at her eyes or even her face.

But then he suddenly knew her mood without seeing her face at all. Broken gasps for breath in between the softest of whimpers reached his sensitive ears, far too low for any human to pick up on.

To Damon's heightened hearing her crying sounded like a thunderstorm.

He could feel his dead heart constrict and he wanted nothing more than to rush up to her, pull her into his arms and make the tears stop falling.

But he had the distinct feeling that he was somehow responsible for her sad mood in the first place. His only hope was that she was crying because he'd left and that seeing him back again would lift her spirits.

Damon had never stopped his approach on her but kept walking closer. Elena didn't noticed him until his feet had breeched her small line of vision. Damon could tell the exact moment it happened by the slight startle her shoulders gave. Then her head shot up and her dark tear-stained eyes met his gaze.

Damon was careful to school his features away from his usual smirk into a face of genuine concern. He found it surprisingly easy expressing concern, seeing her like this.

"Hey," Damon greeted her softly and crouched down next to her. Elena's mouth opened and closed several times but no words came out. She kept staring wide-eyed at his face, obviously trying to figure out if she was perhaps simply hallucinating.

Damon threw a quick glance at the open diary next to Elena's form and noticed the ink had started to blur due to the tears that had fallen onto the page.

"You should be more careful with that, Elena," he smiled and then his hand came up to wipe a lonely tear from her cheek.

Elena jerked away from his touch as if she'd been slapped.

"Don't," she hissed but the single word came out more like a sob and fresh tears started to fill her big eyes. "Don't you dare touch me, Damon!"

"Elena," he chided calmly but nevertheless pulled his hand away.

"Shut up, I can't talk to you!"

"Okay," Damon replied and, with a quick glance at the ground next to his feet, shrugged and lowered his body onto the grass. This would obviously take longer than he'd hoped, so he might just as well get comfortable, right? Damon stretched his long legs, crossed them at the ankles and leaned back slightly. His outstretched arms supported his weight.

Elena watched his display of casual ease with growing fury. She avoided looking anywhere at his face and spat: "And I can't look at you either so get out of my sight!"

"Nope," Damon shook his head. "Not going anywhere!"

"Fine," Elena huffed and jumped up from the ground. "Then I'll go!"

She took three hasty steps away before she suddenly turned around on the spot and cried: "And don't you dare follow me!"

She noticed she was talking to thin air only, the place where Damon had lounged was empty. Elena's eyes shot around, trying to make out his hiding spot. She was sure he was still there somewhere. And then, with a sense of dread, she turned around again, already knowing what she'd see.

Damon stood inches away from her, face calm and unreadable, his body nearly touching hers. Elena prided herself with not flinching the slightest bit.

She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

Instead she lifted her hand and slapped his face with all the strength she could muster. She knew it wouldn't hurt him in the least but she still felt some contentment when his head snapped sideways from the force.

At least she'd managed to surprise him.

Damon cradled his chin in his hand and slowly turned his face back to Elena.

"Okay, I guess I deserved that," he shrugged with his head cocked to the side. Elena's hand shot up to slap him again but this time he caught it in mid-air. "Ah, ah, ah," he reproached, "once is quite enough, thank you."

"You deserve so much more than just a slap in the face, Damon!" Elena spat. "You left! Just like that!"

"Oh, but I came back, didn't I?" Damon lowered his hand that still clasped Elena's and leaned closer towards her face. "So, how about a kiss, huh? Don't I deserve one of those, too?"

"You…" Elena didn't have time for an answer because the next second Damon had closed the distance and his lips captured hers in a mind-melting kiss.

Elena tried to protest but then… she completely lost her focus on everything besides Damon's mouth on hers. The world around her stopped existing, all she could feel was Damon's lips, Damon's tongue demanding entrance to her mouth and she couldn't help but grant it.

The fire that had been burning inside her ever since this morning, the fire that she hadn't been able to douse… it was suddenly rekindled by the mere feeling of Damon's lips on hers. It was as if Damon was pouring gasoline onto her, into her and she couldn't help but light up.

Elena threw her arms around his neck, pulled him closer and kissed him back.

It was like nothing Elena had ever experienced before. Not even earlier today, when she and Damon had made out a lot longer than this kiss lasted now, had she felt such an intensity. She wasn't just burning again, she wasn't just lighting up…

She was exploding.

She was feeling Damon's hands clasp her back, he was holding her firmly against his hard chest and something else was starting to poke hard into her hip.

Elena ran her hands through his hair, over his neck and back, she gripped at his leather jacket tightly and she felt like she needed to get closer to him still. She gasped into his hungry mouth when she ran out of breath, determined not to loose the incredible feeling of his mouth on hers ever again.

But all of a sudden Damon yanked his head away and shot quick looks around. Before Elena had even time to process the loss he grabbed her tighter around her waist and then… swoosh… the world around her spun off its axis even more and she felt wind rush past her.

And then it was over, though Elena had no idea what had just happened. She opened her eyes and noticed that they suddenly stood surrounded by dark trees instead of small headstones.

"Damon, what…?" Elena gasped and stared at him.

"Sunday afternoon, Elena," Damon smirked at her, all the while panting just as much as. "Not the best time to make out in a cemetery. There were visitors, and…"

"And what?" Elena frowned. "So you swept me off my feet just like that and flew us out of the cemetery and into the woods?"

"Well," Damon shrugged, "I didn't exactly fly us here, Elena. I'm not a Petrelli, you know?"

"You know Heroes?" Elena asked immediately.

"Sure," Damon shrugged again. "I'm a big fan of Sylar. You simply gotta love his evil streak!"

Elena rolled her eyes. Of course Damon would root for the most evil and twisted psychopath on TV, ever. She really shouldn't feel surprised by that, should she? He would even go so far as to side with Hannibal Lector!

Damon continued meanwhile: "By the way, the whole cape and bat thing's also just a myth, you know that, right? Vampires can't fly, we can just… run very fast."

"I noticed," Elena smiled and let her hands trail through Damon's wind-tousled hair. She felt Damon slightly lean into the touch before his head lowered again and he captured her lips in a sweet kiss. Elena kissed back just as gentle and Damon must have noticed because the next second he gently broke the kiss and leaned in to touch their foreheads together. He looked at her with something that Elena would have called affection if she'd dared to name it.

"So," Damon softly stated right before a smug smile spread over his face. "Does this mean you've stopped being angry with me?"

"I don't know," Elena couldn't resist but smirk back. "Does it mean you've stopped being an asshole?"

"Probably not," Damon shrugged and stole another quick kiss from Elena's lips. When he pulled away again he whispered into her ear: "But I guess with the right kind of incentive I could try to be a little, ugh, nicer?" He took her earlobe between his lips and gave it a soft nibble. Elena closed her eyes in delight but then Damon pulled away again with a frown.

"No, wait. I don't do nice. How about… I lay off the threatening to kill you for a change?"

He sent Elena the most predatory look she'd ever seen on him but Elena merely rolled her eyes and replied: "Damon, I already know that you never really wanted to kill me. And you'd never hurt me, at least physically. So, no, that's not an option for bargain. You have to do better than that if you want to…" she let her hands slide around his waist and pulled their bodies flush against each other. "If you want a chance to ever explore… this."

Elena teasingly rolled her hips and rubbed her lower body against the growing bulge in his jeans. She smiled victoriously when she saw Damon bite his lip to stop a moan from coming out.

"Oh, you're good, Elena!" Damon smirked admiringly and returned the pressure against her core. Her heart rate sped up and he knew that this wasn't leaving her as cool as she'd lead on.

"Well, then, how about…" Damon purred seductively into her ear, "I promise not to kill or threaten any of your friends, not even the little witch, unless they give me no other option. And you in return promise to let me take this sweet enticing body of yours to new heights of sinful pleasure, hm?"

"That sounds…" Elena broke off with a gasp when Damon let one finger trail slowly down her neck, slid it along her collarbone and lower around the outside curve of her right breast, under it and down still to trace the outline of her navel through her shirt.

"Acceptable," she finished breathlessly when his hand stilled and she could feel his face split into a smug smile. She opened her eyes (and when exactly had she closed them?) to find Damon's trademark smirk firmly in place.

"No need for you to be so smug about it, Mister," she huffed but couldn't stop her lips from forming a slight smile as well. "I will hold you to it. No threatening my friends, Damon. Promise?"

"Absolutely! Scouts' honor, Elena," Damon winked and leaned down to seal his promise with another kiss. He'd planned to not leave it at the one but before he could set his plans into action Elena suddenly pulled free and gasped: "Stefan!"

Damon recoiled with such a look of disgust on his face that Elena nearly laughed.

"Eww, Elena! First of all," Damon growled, "pray to God that you didn't confuse me just now for my stupid brother because that's just…"

"No, Damon!" Elena hurried to convince him. "I didn't."

"Good, cause that's just sick! So then I have to say… way to kill the mood here!" Damon let go of her and crossed his arms over his chest instead. Elena saw his face change into the impassionate, closed-off mask she'd come to know him for hiding his feelings behind and she couldn't help but reach out to him. She lifted both hands to cup his face and forced him to look at her.

"Damon," she explained gently, "I'll never confuse you for Stefan. Just like I hope you'll never confuse me for Katherine. We both seem to have a lot of baggage in that department and I guess we'll simply have to learn to give each other time to come to terms with everything that's happened. For this to ever work out we have to trust each other. Like we did the other night. I'm willing to do that. So…?"

Damon's eyes softened and he pulled Elena into his arms again. He had no idea how she managed it but… he was willing to trust her, too.

"I trusted you twice already," he stated seriously and fixed Elena with honest eyes. "And I'm not counting the night you and Stefan got the grimoire without me. You made me trust you twice after that and you didn't let me down. So now I'm putting my trust in you again and, I really hope the saying's true. The third time's the charm."

"You won't regret it, Damon," Elena whispered just as serious. Somehow his words moved her more than any confession of his feelings ever could.

"Neither will you, Elena," Damon purred into her ear before he swept her up into his arms and managed to kiss her breath away.

Elena pulled away when the lack of oxygen eventually forced her to. "One more thing, Damon."

He rolled his eyes in mock-annoyance and waited for her to go on.

"I know that you like to, ugh, that you enjoyed, I mean, when you were… I mean, I don't know for sure but I saw it on Caroline, ugh and I guess it's kind of normal for you to, well…" Damon noticed an embarrassed flush had covered Elena's face and he found it so endearing that he had to concentrate hard on what she was trying to say. Which wasn't much right now.

"Cute," he commented and earned a slap on the chest for it. "What? You are!"

"Damon, I'm trying to tell you something!" Elena sighed exasperated.

"Yeah, look, whatever that something is, it's not making any sense at all. So, what is it, Elena? Spill!"

He took hold of her hand and started tracing soft patterns onto it. Whatever was on her mind right now, it was obviously making her nervous.

Elena took a deep breath to steady herself and then the words rushed out of her mouth. "I don't want you to bite me during sex, okay?"

"What?" Damon couldn't help it, he broke into a deep laughter.

"Stop it, I'm serious!" Elena cried and smacked him in the chest again. Damon captured that hand of hers as well, just in case she wanted to slap him again after what he was about to say next.

"Elena, I'm flattered that you'd think about having sex already, though I can't really blame you for thinking about it because I know I'm unable to resist anyway, so…"

Damon had done good in capturing Elena's hands because hearing his cocky remark she tried to break free to slap him again. He didn't let go of her but pulled her closer to him instead. He felt her squirm against his body and, damn… what had it been he'd wanted to say?

Oh, right, she'd mentioned Caroline before and Damon needed to set some things straight. So he leaned down until he could look at her and she couldn't avoid his gaze.

"Elena," he then stated patiently, "listen. Caroline wasn't anything but a plaything to me. I used her as an all-you-can-eat-buffet whenever I wanted while I compelled her to help me get my hands on the crystal. She was never anything else to me than that."

"Don't talk about her like that!" Elena's voice shook from badly repressed rage.

"I'm only telling you the truth, Elena. I used her, that's what it was. And, yes, I fed on her during sex, cause that's what you were trying to say earlier, wasn't it?"

Damon send her a smug smile. He let go of her and immediately Elena took a step back. Damon closed the distance again and spoke low in her ear: "I did, Elena. I bit her and fed on her while we were having sex. And if you'd ask her about it she would have to admit that it gave her a kind of pleasure she's never felt before. Because I know how to do it right!"

Damon's eyes shone with pride stating that. "I've been practicing it for over a hundred years. I know how to make women feel good while I feed on them. And that's what I do, Elena. I feed on human blood, I live on human blood. And I'm not gonna stop doing that just because I was crazy enough to fall in love with you. I'm not gonna start feeding on squirrels and stuff like Stefan does. You won't get me to sink so low. It's not who I am and it's not what I am. I am a vampire, Elena! Don't ever forget that!"

Damon eased up on the closeness and looked at Elena's face, not sure what reaction to await after his little speech. He expected to see disgust on her face, or disappointment or… whatever.

But not the stunned awe that brightened her eyes just now. Damon frowned, confused as to what had brought forth such a reaction.

"Ugh, Elena?" He waved a hand in front of her face to snap her out of it. "Did you fall into a coma? Did you hear what I just said?"

Eventually Elena blinked and a smile slowly cracked her lips. "Yes."

"Good," Damon nodded satisfied.

"You fell in love with me," Elena's voice was still full of awe.

"What?" Damon exclaimed. He unconsciously took a step away and glared at her.

"You just confessed that you fell in love with me."

"No, I didn't!" Damon insisted.

"Yes, you did, Damon," Elena smiled and stepped closer. "You said that you wouldn't stop feeding on humans just because you fell in love with me. That's what you said!"

"I…" Damon's mouth closed with a snap. Had he really just said that?

"And you don't have to look so shocked now because I already knew you had feelings for me ever since I read what you wrote in my journal, okay?" Elena had taken hold of his hands and now placed them around her body. She leaned her head against his chest and mumbled into the soft fabric of his shirt.

"You don't have to say it out loud again if you don't want to. I know it. And you should know that," she lifted her head and smiled up at him, "that I have feelings for you, too. I didn't want to but… it just happened."

"It just happened," Damon confirmed and leaned down to place a gentle kiss onto Elena's hair. She didn't know how long they remained like that, lost in the other's embrace but eventually Damon let out a low sigh and lifted his head again.

"So, speaking of Stefan…"

"We were?" Elena shot a questioning gaze up to him. Damon replied with a pointed stare. "You were the one who brought him up in the worst possible moment, remember? So, yeah, speaking of my dear animal-sucking brother…"

Elena rolled her eyes and tried to step out of Damon's arms but he tightened his hold on her.

"I don't want to hear all the gory details but… what happened after I left? What did you tell him? Should I expect a stake come flying my way the moment I step over the threshold?"

"I don't know," Elena sighed deeply when she remembered the look of pain on Stefan's face the moment he'd closed the door in her face. "He was… he's hurt, Damon. He shut me out, he wouldn't talk to me and I don't know what he'll do to you."

She lifted onto her tiptoes and placed a quick kiss onto Damon's lips. "And I'd rather not find out."

"Huh," Damon captured Elena's mouth in a deeper kiss before he pulled away again. "So, you're saying I shouldn't go home just yet? Oh dear, wherever will I find a place to sleep tonight then?"

Elena rolled her eyes seeing his smug face. "Fine, you can come with me," she sighed in mock-annoyance and added as an afterthought: "I'm sure you'll find the couch in the living room quite comfortable."

"And I'm sure that I'll find your bed even more comfortable," Damon shot back and, releasing her, started walking towards the edge of the woods. "Especially with you in it to warm me."

Elena couldn't deny the tingling feeling that shot through her body at the prospect. She quickly caught up with Damon and together they made it out of the woods and back onto the more crowded streets again.

Eventually Elena continued: "I don't think that Aunt Jenna will like you sleeping in the same bed as me, no matter how much you managed to wrap her around your finger the other night. Which I didn't like the least bit, just so you know."

"What?" Damon sent her a smug grin. "I was just being polite! No need to be jealous, Elena!"

"I'm not jealous, Damon!" Elena shot back a little too quickly for her own taste. "It's just… you flirting with her? I know that you're probably five times her age but still, it's about as gross as when I had to watch you and Bree greet each other with your tongues!"

Damon let out a quick laugh. "Elena, maybe I'm wrong but, don't people usually use their tongues to say hello?"

"Not in each other's mouths they don't!"

"Okay, whatever," Damon smiled at Elena and let his shoulder bump into her in walking. "I promise I won't flirt with Jenna ever again, okay?"

"Okay," Elena smiled back.

"I can't guarantee for her not flirting with me again though," Damon couldn't help but tease her further. "We had a really nice chat earlier."

Elena stopped walking and stared at him. "What do you mean, earlier? You came by my house?"

"Of course I did. I was looking for you, Elena! So Jenna and I got talking about…" Damon trailed off, suddenly remembering what it had been Jenna had revealed to him. The weird history teacher was perhaps Elena's father or, at least his wife had been Elena's birth mother.

He'd need to look into that as soon as possible.

"About?" Elena prompted when Damon simply stopped talking.

Damon's head snapped back to look at her. He sent her a quick smirk. "Oh, you know, about the burden of raising kids when you'd never act as an adult before… something I can very well relate to, being Stefan's legal guardian and all that."

"Yeah, about that," Elena suddenly wanted to know, "I'd always wanted to ask you or Stefan about it. I mean, are you really…? I mean, officially, his guardian? How did you pull that off?"

"How do you think, Elena?" Damon rolled his eyes at her. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to get forged documents from any office if…" Damon suddenly looked away from Elena at something, or someone, over her head. He finished belatedly: "If the Sheriff comes your way."

"Huh?" Elena frowned confused. What kind of answer was that?

She was about to ask Damon when she suddenly heard a familiar female voice from behind.

"Damon, how good to see you!"

"Sheriff Forbes," Damon nodded a charming smile towards the blond woman in uniform that now appeared by Elena's side.

"Elena," the woman barely acknowledged her presence but turned immediately back to Damon. Elena seethed inwardly. This was Caroline's mom! What was he doing flirting with Caroline's mom?

"Damon, I've been meaning to talk to you about something," Sheriff Forbes continued. "You see, there's Mystic Falls' Annual Bachelor Auction taking place a week from now and I was wondering, well, if you'd perhaps consider being part of that."

"The Bachelor Auction?" Damon had trouble keeping a straight face. He could see Elena nearly wanting to rip the Sheriff's throat out for her suggestion.

"Yes, you know," Sheriff Forbes continued again. "No worries, it's nothing serious that's to be expected from you. You'd just agree to a dinner with whoever bought you. And I'm sure that we'd be able to raise much more money with you than with any other single man in town, you know what I mean?"

Yes, Damon knew exactly what she meant. And Elena did, too, if the sudden grip around Damon's arm was any indication.

He looked at the young girl's face and was stunned to see the sweetest of smiles directed at the Sheriff. "I'm so sorry, Sheriff Forbes," she announced sweetly, "but I'm afraid this one's already taken. Not a Bachelor and definitely not for sale to any woman but me!"

Sheriff Forbes threw a surprised look at Damon who couldn't help but chuckle softly. He'd better say something right now or Elena would start breathing fire. So after a long and soft glance at the girl by his side Damon shrugged: "I'm sorry, Sheriff, but Elena's right. I'd have loved to help you out but…"

"Oh, well," the elder woman muttered stunned, "I didn't know that you… I thought you and his brother…"

The look both Elena and Damon shot her simultaneously made the Sheriff stop mid-sentence. Then she quickly excused herself and walked across the street in a hurry.

Damon watched her go before he leaned down to give Elena a quick kiss. When they parted again Damon simply had to mock her: "Elena, Elena! Sure, you're not the jealous type. If I'd known it'd be like this…"

"Shut up, Damon!" Elena quickly replied. "I'm not the jealous type. But I sure as hell won't let you strut around a room full of desperate and drunk women, each of them ogling your sexy body and trying to get their hands on you!"

"Now there's a thought…" Damon let out a dreamy sigh and Elena playfully slapped his arm. "Hey!"

"Stop that, it's not gonna happen!"

Damon pouted, he actually pouted. "All I'm saying is that this body is way too hot to be hidden away, don't you think?" He stuck out a pose and Elena had to laugh out loud.

"It deserves some attention," Damon continued. "It's like it is with any piece of true art. You wouldn't dare to hide a Picasso in some dark corner for the owner alone to enjoy, would you? You'd want to put it on display in a museum. True art needs to be acknowledged!"

"Yeah well, this piece of true art," Elena suited up to Damon and let her hand slide over his well-defined abs in a sensual touch, "will from now on be on display for me alone, you got that? And if you behave," she hooked her thumbs through his belt loops and pulled him closer, "then I might even be inclined to give it the special acknowledgement it deserves."

Damon's eyes lit up. This girl really knew how to play with fire. "Well then, may I suggest you book a private tour to this museum tonight?" He pressed his renewed erection closer to Elena and smirked when she couldn't stifle a gasp. "I could be persuaded to function as your own personal guide."

"Yeah, I think I'd like that," Elena smiled seductively and kissed him again. Then she pulled her mouth away and frowned: "But just so you know it: I won't pay any money for it. After all, you're not a Picasso!"

"I know, I'm way hotter than any piece of shit that guy ever painted. And…" Damon winked suggestively, "…a painting wouldn't get you all hot and bothered, would it?"

He leaned closer to Elena's ear and nibbled playfully on the lobe before he whispered: "A painting wouldn't make you scream in ecstasy!"

Elena felt the heat rush through her body but she was determined to not let Damon see how much his words affected her. So she forced her voice to sound smug.

"I wouldn't be too sure, Damon. I truly love a good painting!"

"But you love me more," came the smug reply.

Elena had no answer to that, so she simply grabbed Damon's head and pulled him in for a deep kiss. She could feel him smirk into it, so smug and completely full of himself, but Elena guessed that she'd just let him get away with it for now.

She was sure that, once they'd be at home in her room, she would very easily come up with a way to wipe that smug smile off his face and replace it with something else entirely.

* * *

**THE END**

_So, yeah, that's it for now. I know that it still doesn't feel like the end of this story, somehow. There's still the not-yet-dealt-with issue of a Damon/Stefan confrontation as well as the plot development (the whole Alaric-might-be-Elena's-real-father plot and the Damon-might-be-responsible-for-Elena's-birth-mother's-disappearance thing). Not to mention lots and lots of steamy sex. But for now this is all I'm able to give you because I don't have time to write more. I have exams in three days and I have to study. Then there's the new episode coming and I wanted to finish this before that. Once the show continues (and I passed my exams) I will write more Delena because I can't get enough of them. So look out for anything new from me. Bye for now!_

_Oh, and... review please and make me the happiest girl alive.  
_


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